1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates to processing systems, and more particularly to power management in multi-core processing systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
As modern processor performance has increased, there has been a concomitant increase in the power consumed by these processors. The increased power consumption has become problematic in at least a couple of ways. An increase in power consumption in a portable device leads to lower battery life, which is highly undesirable in portable electronics. In addition, increased power consumption means an increased thermal load on cooling mechanisms. The increase in heat may be particularly problematic in chip multi-processors, which have multiple processor cores housed in a single package or housing. Therefore, while a continual increase in performance has been a driving factor in processor development, it has also become necessary to find ways of reducing the power consumed by a processor while sacrificing as little performance as possible.
Accordingly, processor designers have proposed many ways to reduce power. One such way is to throttle, or slow down, a processor operating frequency during times that may be imperceptible to a user. However, depending on the applications being executed by a processor, throttling imperceptibly may not be an option. Similarly, degradation in performance may also not be acceptable.